W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) shares hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $65.65 and last traded at $65.34, with a volume of 20497 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $65.24.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WRB. StockNews.com raised W. R. Berkley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of W. R. Berkley in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.36.

W. R. Berkley Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $27.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company’s fifty day moving average is $61.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.15.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 12.88%. Equities research analysts forecast that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. 111 Capital acquired a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth $304,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 376.1% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 63,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,731,000 after acquiring an additional 50,361 shares during the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH lifted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 13,491 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $789,000 after acquiring an additional 995 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the fourth quarter valued at about $14,057,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in W. R. Berkley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,676,000. 68.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About W. R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines.